Railway vehicles of any kind, particularly passenger trains, freight trains, electric trolleys for transportation inside of closed spaces such as production halls, sorting stations or high shelf storage, whether suspended or on the ground, must be routed in the desired travel direction via rail tracks that are branched by means of switch points.
Switch points that are equipped with moveable rail parts are known; they can be inserted into a gap in one or the other railway direction for deflecting or shifting. The power required to move the rail parts is considerable. Beyond that, wear in conjunction with the effect of weather and contamination are a disadvantage. Such mechanical, i.e. active switch points require intensive maintenance. Their use in explosion-proof and wet spaces is almost impossible and is not permitted in most areas.
So-called turntables are also known, in which the railway vehicles or individual railway cars are turned around with the turntable until a seamless transfer is established to the desired connecting track direction. In this case the fairly considerable power requirement is also a disadvantage. The danger of a switch point jam must also be considered. Railway vehicles or trolleys which closely follow each other can jam at the branch sections, since the operation of the turntables, as well as the above-cited deflecting switch points, require a long time for each vehicle. The trolleys must stop or at least slow down in any event. This very much restricts the passage of trolleys, i.e. the traffic density.